Ashling & Sutton Streets (behind the main stand)

[Masson4]

What a post, I can almost taste those Smith's Crisps! Lovely memories.

Re the tunnel inside Meadow Lane, I recall it being a bit dodgy navigating it if there was any kind of attendance present, especially when everyone was piling out together after the final whistle.

When I ocasionally visited as a kid in the late 1960s I'd be taken by an older family member, catching a special football bus somewhere near where Boots is on Parliament Street to be dropped on London Road. Being a two-way road in those days there would be a queue of buses parked up the other side of London Road ready to ferry fans back up to the city centre as the supporters streamed out.

They weren't great days for Notts at that time of course, with the presence of a re-election battle not being unusual, just pre-Sirrel and Notts would be scaping attendances of around 3,000. Not being old enough to really appreciate things I'd spend a fair amount of time looking out of the large openings at the back of the County Road Stand over to Colwick, trying ti imagine where that was.

Shortly after, the wee man would take charge with his little general on the pitch coming to prominence. The rest as they say, is history. Notts County's cause became irresistible...

[ncfcog]

I think you’re right about 79 - just checked back and I see we played West Ham in Oct. 79. I turned up for the game with a mate, went on the Kop, because that’s where I’d always gone, and was surprised to see it was for West Ham fans. We quickly got transferred to the Main Stand. Presumably the Kop split between home and away fans came the following season.

I mentioned in an earlier post about going on the kop for the Oldham game in ‘79. There were about 200 of the Oldham fans and they had the whole kop. I think the following season saw the segregation come in on the kop with away fans having a section closest to County Road stand. The more away fans came the police would open up extra sections. I remember often stood right next to some big away fan followings separated by one fence snd a line of police. This must have been after promotion to Div 1 though?

[Elite_Pie]

What a post, I can almost taste those Smith's Crisps! Lovely memories.

With the little blue bag of salt inside to sprinkle on?

When I ocasionally visited as a kid in the late 1960s I'd be taken by an older family member, catching a special football bus somewhere near where Boots is on Parliament Street to be dropped on London Road.

That was my first route to games. Local bus to Mount Street bus station (now a car park), walk to the back end of Viccy centre then the free bus to the ground. From there it was straight into the Kop so I never really saw much of Iremonger Road back then.

Shortly after, the wee man would take charge with his little general on the pitch coming to prominence. The rest as they say, is history. Notts County's cause became irresistible...

Exactly. The debt I owe to the likes of Sirrel and Masson back then is why I will never desert the club.

[upthemaggies]

Looks like you can see the tunnel in the above pic.
I'm fairly certain the tunnel would have gone with the re-building of the Kop in the summer of 1980 which didn't extend quite so far beyond the corner flag.

The kop was definitely still open to home fans in 1975/76 and there was no above head height fences at the start of that season. So maybe it was some other incident involving hooligans or an accumulation of problems that pushed Notts into taking the decision to install one at that end. Fences didn't go up at the front of County Road until the start of the 1981/82 season, following the promotion.

[Masson4]

[

That was my first route to games. Local bus to Mount Street bus station (now a car park), walk to the back end of Viccy centre then the free bus to the ground. From there it was straight into the Kop so I never really saw much of Iremonger Road back then.

A parallel of another long-gone piece of Nottingham, the Mount Street bus station whilst I'd arrive on a Trent bus number 63 from Redhill at Huntingdon Street bus station. A walk past one of surely the most sadly-missed places in Nottingham, the Central Market and up for the football special to London Road. Just prior to Victoria Centre then so we're talking rail tracks way below our feet.

Like you Elite, much of the rest of the vicinity of the ground was pretty much a mystery to me.

Looks like you can see the tunnel in the above pic.
I'm fairly certain the tunnel would have gone with the re-building of the Kop in the summer of 1980 which didn't extend quite so far beyond the corner flag.

The kop was definitely still open to home fans in 1975/76 and there was no above head height fences at the start of that season. So maybe it was some other incident involving hooligans or an accumulation of problems that pushed Notts into taking the decision to install one at that end. Fences didn't go up at the front of County Road until the start of the 1981/82 season, following the promotion.

I remember a pre-season friendly versus Leicester in the mid-1970s where there was quite a bit of bother, particularly on the Kop. Freedom of movement around the ground at that time with the oppositon changing ends at half-time that day.

[Masson4]

Thanks for the edit, Swale. I find the multi-quoting function a tad indistinct when compared to a few other forums and was grappling with it a little!

[sinophile]

When we lost to Fword in 81-82 the Kop was segregated. I know because when Trevor Christie equalised in the first half I had an altercation with an Fword fan who was on the wrong side of the fence. I didn't see the rest of the game!

[americanpie]

When we lost to Fword in 81-82 the Kop was segregated. I know because when Trevor Christie equalised in the first half I had an altercation with an Fword fan who was on the wrong side of the fence. I didn't see the rest of the game!

Naughty boy !

[sinophile]

No comment m'lud

[upthemaggies]

No comment m'lud

Maybe we should start a "have you ever been thrown out or arrested?" thread.
I know the chap who got arrested for jumping over to the touchline on County Road to confront (and ever-so-slightly shove) the linesman v Brentford in 2000 was a poster here. I think he said he had to do an anger management course as punishment.
I got stopped and searched at just about every away match I ever went to if I wasn't with my dad or the wife, but never got into any bother once inside.